Using Aromatherapy to Set the Stage for Great Sleep

Laura McCann has successfully blended her talents for designing and creating products with her skills as a business owner. She loves to build brands, from the products to the packaging, which is the case with her Adoratherapy line of balancing and healing perfumes. She has also crafted a bedding and sleep routine that results in the sufficient, quality sleep that she needs to support her busy days. Laura sleeps well and wakes up cozy with Down Etc bedding.

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Laura McCann. I live in Asheville North Carolina and founded a beauty brand called Adoratherapy. We are a vertical manufacturer and make aromatherapy perfumes for balancing and healing the aura and chakras. We have a retail store in Downtown Asheville and provide aura readings and chakra balancing with our healing aromatherapy products. We are in the business of helping our guests take the best breath of their day by breathing in our essential oil blends formulated in perfumes, roll ons, candles, and body care.

What brings you joy?

I am both a right- and left-brain person, and I love going back and forth between creative tasks and more managerial and operational projects. I love creating products and designing packaging. I also enjoy creating beautiful spaces. I love people, but am an ambivert, both extroverted and introverted. I love time alone and then time with others.

Why art?

I consider myself a designer, which is a kind of artist. I studied Fashion in college and went to Parson School of Design. I have always loved textiles, pattern, materials, graphics and design. Working on a brand like Adoratherapy or Down Etc requires a lot of creative know how from designing logos and boxes and labels and tags, to websites and catalogs.

I believe I love building brands because it is the best way to marry my creative skills with my entrepreneurial ones. I receive very clear downloads, almost like my brain is a mini AI and I see what is possible for a brand and how it can be embodied visually. It’s quite wonderful and I have honed this skill with over thirty years of experience, which makes it even more creative. When you know something, you can trust it.

What superpower would you have and why?

I consider myself to be intuitive with a big third eye, but I’d like to be Clairvoyant!

If I was clairvoyant I could see many things before they happen which would give me greater confidence and help me succeed.

What is your dream project?

My dream project is to build out my ideal store concept and open a store in Brooklyn. I have been creating concepts, prototypes and looking at locations for a few years now. One day, I hope to realize the vision. What’s holding me back? Capital and time.

Tell us about your experience/project with Down Etc?

Down Etc sells our Room Sprays and candles on their website. We have sold their pillows and eye masks in our store. Down Etc’s Founder and I have been friends for many years and we enjoy updating each other and sharing things we’ve learned in life and in business. I have had the pleasure to help at different times with the branding, photo shoots, website and marketing, as well as attend trade shows. I have learned so much about sales, hospitality, top of the bed and down as a result. It has been a true blessing to have had the chance to watch Down Etc’s flourish over the years. Their team is amazing, works so hard, and truly sees the world and their business in a way that transcends profits. They are all about their guests and how they sleep.

What was your favorite thing about creating for Down Etc?

I the past I have done consulting for the Down Etc brand and loved working on magnifying the incredible products they sell and their brand story of luxury hotel bedding that provides a great night’s sleep. Today I sleep on and with many Down Etc products, and will always, because the products are truly exceptional.

My favorite projects were updating the website and brand with new imagery. We did a photo shoot at my house with 7 models, and I never made so many beds in my life. I enjoyed producing the campaign and styling it.

Tell us how you sleep.

I have always been a great sleeper and have to get seven to eight hours a sleep to function. I am a side sleeper, tosser and turner, and teeth grinder. Lately, I’ve been told I snore. I have a favorite pillow lately, it’s a shaped memory foam pillow which helps my neck. But I have four or five pillows on my side of the bed. I always have a Euro square and two pillows, a medium and soft pillow. Those are all down, and from Down Etc.

Actually, all my bedding is Down Etc, from my duvet (I change from a summer to a winter and have both weights) to my sheets, down on earth, cotton and organic. I must have a down comforter to sleep. I can’t sleep with a blanket, I just love the extra weight, the scrunch and the puff. We have a foam mattress and we keep the room cool at night.

I don’t take naps much but wish I could. My naps usually last 2 hours or more, so it’s not practical to do so. On vacation, or “far niente” days, a nap is a must.

I recently lost my 11 year old dog. He loved sleeping under the sheets and could stay there for an hour or more. I will miss tucking my toes under his belly. If I was sad, he would always come on the bed to console me. A bed without a dog is not a bed at all. We have some great photos of him from a Down Etc photo shoot on my bed. I will treasure that memory forever.

How does sleep figure into your work/art?

I rarely miss out on a night’s sleep, usually only when I travel overseas. It takes me a few days, now that I am older, to get back on track. Sleep is probably more important to me than food. I have a very active dream life, with vivid dreams and “sleep adventures”. I remember my dreams most of the time.

I can’t wait to get to sleep at night, usually a little past ten and get up around 6:30 or 7:00. I spend my first hour in the morning in bed reading, under the duvet, pillows propped up just so, so I can start my day warm and cozy. As soon as my eyes adjust, I am off and running, with my phone or iPad, I get right to it, catching up on the news, trades and seeing what life brings in digitally.

I have had days where I have slept so well, I feel like a new person. Having the right pillow always makes a difference. I know this because when I stay in a hotel, my biggest complaint is always the pillows.

The only time sleep was elusive was during menopause. Hot sweats and flashes, restlessness, you name it. Thank goodness I had my Down Etc bedding as natural fibers make a huge difference. Back then I could only sleep in a super lightweight pima cotton t-shirt. By the time I was done with menopause it was so tattered, even a rag looked better.

We created a collection of lavender products that are wonderful to support sleep. They have names like Serene Room Boost, Tranquility Chakra Boost. I keep them in my room on my nightstand.